RALEIGH - Striking faces and special places of North Carolina are showing up in an eastern and western route of the “Celebrate North Carolina: Faces and Places”( www.celebrate.nc.gov) photography exhibit. An initiative of First Gentleman Bob Eaves, in cooperation with the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (www.ncculture.com), there are even more reasons to celebrate now. Two members of the N.C. Press Photographers Association, Ethan Hyman and Corey Lowenstein, who have photographs on the tour, recently won photography awards from the photographers’ association.
The exhibit has 30 exceptional photographs and will travel to 30 venues at libraries or museums from Murphy to Kill Devil Hills. Each venue will show four images from winners of the 2009 N.C. State Fair, eight from the State Archives, and 18 from members of the N.C. Press Photographers Association. The tour is one of several events from the Office of the First Gentlemen to “Celebrate North Carolina.” It started on March 1 at the Caldwell County Public Library in Lenoir, and also at the Public Library of Smithfield and Johnston County in Smithfield. The libraries responded to an invitation from the State Library of North Carolina (http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov) to participate. It concludes on Feb. 19, 2011, at the Durham County Public Library and the Cameron Village Branch of the Wake County Public Library in Raleigh. Museums were invited to complete the geographic distribution of the tour.
Hyman’s winning picture Not so easy, took honorable mention in press photographers feature category, and shows a pedestrian leaping across a huge puddle on his way to lunch. Lowenstein’s Durham Divine Divas showcases a cheering squad of senior citizens, and took second place in the feature category. Winning State Fair images on the east tour are Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, by Diana Bloomfield; Kaitlyn Lacombe, by Brian Cyr; Historic Mecca Restaurant, Downtown Raleigh, by Anthony Sammarco; and Cape Moon Rising, by Miriam Sutton. State Fair winning photographs on the west tour are Sonia’s Yard - The Bird Cage, by Ellen Giamportone; City Market, Raleigh, by Brian Potter; Walton Green Likes Trucks, by Candace Green; and Hummingbird, by Christa Rice.
For additional information, call (919) 807-7389. The State Library of North Carolina is a division of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, the state agency with the mission to enrich lives and communities, and the vision to harness the state’s cultural resources to build North Carolina’s social, cultural and economic future. Information is available 24/7 at www.ncculture.com.